The Leadership Which Jesus Ordained
Uranda March 16, 1947
Special Sessions Riverside, California
Somebody made the comment, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” But who was it that said that? Paul, in Hebrews 9:22. This is a rather big subject, and if, in my summary, some phase or aspect of it is not developed enough to make it clear, I wish to clear it, because I am going to undertake to deal with it as concisely as I can. Blood is the life stream of the body, isn’t it? Without that blood there can be no life. The first miracle that Jesus performed in the beginning of His Ministry, according to the Biblical record, was the changing of the water into wine. That was His first miracle, the inception of His Ministry, at the marriage of Cana, according to the Bible. That was not by happenstance. Water is the symbol of Truth; wine is the symbol of the blood, which is to say, the life stream. The life stream, which makes possible the Spiritual Expression of Life, is not just the physical blood but what we call the Christ Radiation—that is, the life forces in Spiritual Essence, which are made available to human beings from God Being. When we recognize that Jesus revealed the Father, or revealed Deity and the expression of Divinity on earth, we recognize that He was allowing the expression on earth of those Divine Essences which make possible the true living of life; but we also recognize that when He incarnated from His Heavenly Estate into the world of man, He sacrificed Himself; by that very act, in undertaking to come down into the world simply as a human being and to function in the world of men under the circumstances that existed, He was shedding His blood—shedding His life stream into the world body of mankind or humanity.
When He came to the final act of His Ministry before the crucifixion, which was what we call the Lord's Supper, we find that that final act of His Ministry has a peculiar correspondence to the first act of His Ministry. He changed water into wine, water the symbol of Truth into the living expression of Life—truth in the abstract, recognized by man, but not a living, vital thing that had practical expression in the world of man—and He, by His Life and Ministry, changed that abstract truth into a vital, living thing, so His first miracle was a key to His Life and Ministry because that was what He did, not just at the marriage at Cana, but all through His Life expression He was changing abstract truth into the living wine of Life, into the life stream—and the manifestation of His whole Life and Ministry and His whole Teaching is essential to salvation, not just the fact that He was crucified. Then, in His final act of Ministry, where He took the wine and the unleavened bread—we recognize that leavened bread would indicate that the bread contained that in it which made it self-active—it is unleavened bread, meaning that the self-activity of man must be relinquished, which could be put to Divine uses, and the unfermented juice of the grape is what He used as the wine, which carries the same significance—if fermented wine is used in relationship to the sacraments, it is a continuation of self-activity, which defeats the thing which He was revealing. It has to be the sweet juice of the grape.
He was revealing the Father, and revealing the Way by which we could come into Oneness with the Father so that we also could reveal the Father. He said, “This bread is my flesh.” That unleavened bread was a symbol, and the wine was a symbol. I have not time tonight to develop the whole picture, but it was very fully developed during the Summer Session. Here, in John 15, He said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
We find that He had been teaching intensively the manner in which His Body should continue on earth. The disciples were supposed to he the continuation of His Body on earth, or what we call the One Christ Body, and through a consideration of John 14, 15, 16, and 17 especially, we find that those four chapters are dealing with the formation and manifestation of the Christ Body. “I am the Vine … abide in Me.” Oneness.
He expected His disciples to be His Body on earth through which He could continue to accomplish His purposes on earth after His Ascension. They failed to do that. They did not carry through, but that was His intention, that was His teaching. Then, when we recognize His intention that they should be His Body, the idea that He was just talking about the bread itself, when He said “This is my Body”, is seen to be extremely limited. The disciples to whom He spoke, the group of individuals to whom He was speaking, were to be His Body, and the bread was simply a symbol of that Body. As He took that to His lips, into His body, and each one there took it, that bread ceased to be a thing of itself, losing its identity as bread. Just so were they supposed to be received into His Body, so that they would lose their identity, in the sense of being scattered segregations, and become members of that One Body, so that as branches of that Body they could let the works be done on earth. Just so, when they took the wine, it symbolized the life stream, the living expression of the Christ Life on earth, which was to continue to manifest through His One Body on earth, but the disciples failed to let that Body come into formation, and that Body has not been in formation until now, and it is only beginning to manifest as a nucleus now. There is just beginning to be a recognition of what Jesus meant that His disciples should do. But they failed and did not let John head the development. Peter plunged out and started doing this, that and the other thing.
Jesus particularly stated that His place of leadership was transferred to John. He never authorized Peter to take any place of leadership. He authorized John, and they ignored John, and John was the only one who understood what was to be done in the Christ Body. The failure of Christianity, as meaning the true teachings of Christ, was very marked after the ascension of Jesus. They had so prostituted the teachings of Christ that just three hundred years afterward, the dark ages came in—just to illustrate my point. When He said, “This is my Body”, He was illustrating the fact that this was the symbol of that which they were to be, and as they partook of it they were to come into the One Body to continue His work on earth. What is the first great fallacy of the Roman Catholic Church? The word, “Peter” means “stone”, not “rock”—it means “a little stone”. He says, “Thou art Peter” but “upon this rock”—which He was Himself—“I will build my Church".” He said, “You are a little stone.” Alright. But “upon this rock” which He Himself was, He built the church. He never gave Peter authorization at all, but He did give John authorization.
“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother!” (John 19: 25-27) In other words, He put John in His place on earth. From there on John was supposed to fill the place which He was vacating on earth. He had been her son up to that point, but He put John into the place of His mother’s son. One of the last things He did was to delegate His place and authority on earth to John, but the failure of the disciples to let John fulfill that Divine Commission caused them to go off on all kinds of tangents. They were following afar off. They did not even hear the Commission. They were afraid to get that close. And Peter had just denied Him three times.
He made His Christ Life available to the world. It was not by happenstance that the cross was used in connection with the world’s rejection of him, because unless we realize that the cross symbolizes the human body, it has no real significance. It is in the human body that that refusal to let the Christ Life manifest is found, and it was set in Golgotha, the place of the skull. The self-activity of human minds, the Golgotha of today, is the place where our Lord is, each day, crucified on earth afresh. If we remember that, the whole picture begins to take on its proper proportions and the mere fact that He died on the cross is not what it is thought to be in the Christian churches. They do not even know what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. They say it is because He died on the cross, but the only Gospel Jesus authorized was to go preach that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Have they done it? No. Of all of the missionaries that have gone around the world, I challenge you to show me one who has taught this Gospel of the Kingdom. Where is he? I never heard of him.
“And He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:15-13). “Peter” means “a little stone”, and He did not mean He was going to build His Church on a little stone. All the way through the Bible Jesus was pictured as the Rock of Reality. Upon the Rock of Jesus Christ will He build His Church, not upon the little stone of Peter.
This is Matthew’s gospel, and John, who knew more about it than anybody else, does not even record the incident. In connection with the same point, in John 6: 68-70: “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” It was the twelve to whom He was speaking. Now it is assumed, by the way Matthew puts it here, in Chapter 16, Verse 19: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” That it is supposed to be simply the Master's word to Peter—actually, it is not; it is deliberately used to engender and foster a false idea. It must be recognized that Jesus was speaking to the twelve, or, one being a devil, to the eleven, so it was His Body on earth, not just Peter, that should have the keys of the Kingdom, and when we recognize that, that it is His Body on earth that has those keys now, then we are beginning to understand the application of the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Let us read John 20: 19-23 — “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto then, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” Here we have the word of Jesus after His resurrection saying that the Body of those who should receive the Holy Spirit would have power to remit sin. This is the Master's final and official statement on this important point.
Let me carry out this thought. Peter said he would never deny the Lord, as we read in Matthew 26: 33-34. “Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him. Verily, I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” And even after that great warning, he did it! Then, there is another misrepresentation, because after the Master was resurrected, before His ascension, Peter had denied the Master three times, and we read in John 21: 14-17: “This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord: thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” That text has been used to still further the idea that it was Peter who was supposed to take the leadership, but there, what the Master was doing was forgiving him, and allowing him to accept a clearing on the three denials. Three times Peter had denied Him and all that text means is that Peter should then be willing, if he loved Him, to function correctly in the One Body, and in that text Jesus was simply washing away the tragedy of the three denials, if he would serve properly, which he did not do. He tried to take the reins—impulsive Peter.
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou vast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst wither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whilst thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God.” (John 21: 18-19). That is, what the Master was really doing was saying that, in spite of those three assertions by Peter that he loved Him, the Master recognized that still Peter would not do what he was supposed to do. “And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” If that is not telling him to mind his own business! At that time, if Jesus had intended Peter to be in charge of all the disciples, He would certainly have answered that question, but He plainly refused to recognize Peter’s authority over John in any way.
And after the Ascension, if you take the picture that Jesus gave before His crucifixion, His final teachings to them as contained in John 14, 15, 16 and 17, and then note the course they followed afterward, you will see they absolutely ignored the leadership Jesus established. Impulsive Peter took the reins in his hands; and then, because Paul sees a vision—where did he go to get his understanding? To the disciples, who had lived with Jesus? To John? No, into the wilderness for three years, and then he proceeds to teach his theories about the teaching of Jesus, and his whole approach to it is faulty because he did not know.
Now, here is one of the most important texts to be found in the Bible from the standpoint of understanding what happened after the Master’s ascension and what is essential to the outworking now. One of the last things He said before His final prayer of intercession was, “I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now.” He had given them all they could understand then, and more, and their actions afterwards proved He was right. “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.”
When it is realized that the pattern He revealed was only an outline, and that the expression of the expansion concerning it was yet to be made manifest, in perfect coordination with the outline, then we can begin to realize its meaning. For instance, when the day of Pentecost came, which was supposed to be merely a beginning of a series of spiritual experiences which would let them come into an understanding of the truth, the first time they experienced an outpouring where they should begin to know the truth, impulsive Peter straightway runs out and starts using the power he had, which started persecutions which did not need to be and brought failure. If he had let a series of Pentecostal days manifest so that they could have learned to function as a Body, then the fruit would have been the fruit of God, but he took the current of the Spirit that was given to them which was to let them learn how to function as a Body, and ran out and started casting pearls before swine, and there was no other real day of Pentecost. It went down from there—although that was meant to be the starting point upward. Peter was trying to tell people something they were not ready to receive. That engendered the persecutions that came. The way John knew how to handle it, that would not have been. It would have been a gradual outworking. They would not have had those great mass meetings that divided the currents and brought defeat. It would be just as foolish for someone who is just getting oriented in the One Christ Body to refuse to take any further direction and go out here and start some big campaign. It would just ruin it. It would not work.
We are not working according to the methods of man, but according to the methods of God, and the same methods outlined by the Master before His ascension have to be put to work now or it is nothing. They should have been working incognito, as it were, so that their function would not have been swept over and engulfed by world reaction, before the members were ready to meet it. The world reaction just buried it. There were persecutions and they were all put in a bad spot. The Master had already gained the victory—they did not have to go through all of that. There would have been opposition, but they would have been in position to meet it. As it was they were not in position to meet it. So Peter and Paul were the ones who came mighty close to wrecking the work of Christ on earth. It has taken 1900 years to get to a point where we can start what should have been started then.
We have covered a lot of ground. Fully amplifying all these points would take many services. I praise the Lord because when these things are realized we begin to be in position to do something. Until they are realized, the great distinctions between the Right Way and the way that was followed in the days when Peter took the reins, cannot be seen, and until they are seen, the people are going to go right on making the same mistakes that Peter and the others made. You take the Bible, and the teachings of the Third Sacred School, and it is all there.
I might add to our consideration here, when the other disciples refused to follow through on the plan that Jesus inaugurated and refused to recognize the place of John in the plan, and impulsive Peter usurped that place of leadership, John had to follow the way which Jesus took. I do not mean he refused to raise his voice to try to clear the situation, but he kept still after that and said not a word. If he had not done that, this cycle would not have come. On the Isle of Patmos, he wrote the Book of Revelation and reopened the way for this cycle of manifestation, but if he had not carried through there, and set the pattern as revealed in Revelation, there would not have been any way to build any salvation out of the wreckage that Peter and Paul had wrought. That would have been complete failure. John did speak up but they would not listen, even to the extent of there being no record. Luke wrote the book of Acts, and he furthered the leadership of Peter and Paul. Luke, you see, was not even a disciple, and yet he wrote one of the gospels.
In one sense the disciples had a better chance than we have, but that rested entirely in the acceptance of the leadership which Jesus ordained, but it was rejected and there is not one church outside of ours that accepts it. So their whole chance of success depended upon their accepting the leadership which Jesus authorized. At that time, they had been used to the leadership of Jesus, and then there was the strong, impulsive nature of Peter that was always pushing itself forward, and it took Jesus Himself to keep him in his place; and John could not arbitrarily take the leadership and force them to accept it, so it was a matter of accepting the transfer of leadership to John on the part of Jesus, and when they refused it there was no means at that time whereby that leadership could manifest, because we cannot use force. We cannot use force to compel acceptance today, or at any time. So, the important difference that really makes it easier now than it was then is because this leadership is recognized, and it is not a matter of transferring leadership, so in that sense it puts it on a different basis.
The important thing is that you have learned to know Jesus Christ better than the disciples did then. Why did Jesus love John? Because John loved Jesus, and because John understood Him, and the rest did not, so those in the School today know Jesus better and understand Him more fully than the disciples did the night of the Lord’s supper; that is, the disciples as a whole, and it is not until we know and understand Jesus Christ and recognize what His Life and Ministry meant, and realize that what He said is true: “Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”—that is, the end of the world of evil—that we understand what the gospel of the Kingdom was and is. Why, Peter himself did not stop to remember what it was Jesus told all of them to preach. Right after the ascension Peter started teaching them a gospel which was nothing like the one Jesus authorized them to teach. When there is a recognition of Jesus Christ, of Who He is, of what the real Gospel is, of what His Life and teaching is, of what it means to reveal that Gospel as it is in Reality, and of the Way by which that Kingdom that is at hand may come into manifestation for us, then we know the true purpose of Jesus’s Life and Ministry.
Francis — You must be a prophet or something. I have never heard anyone speak like you except Martin here, and he is one of your disciples. I have never heard the Bible revealed like you do it, and I have heard it so many times. It is almost completely a new book.
Uranda — But it is all done, all accomplished, and all achievement is possible through the Love and Power of Jesus Christ. The honor and glory are His, and while I appreciate recognition of my Ministry, the greatest recognition of it and the most pleasing for me, is the recognition of Him, and the proof that that Ministry means anything is the manifestation of an increased Love for Him.
You know, I wonder if I could convey something to you. It is a little difficult sometimes for human beings to comprehend—and it is certainly difficult to put into words—but when I talk about Jesus and His Life and His Ministry and His teaching, it is not just talking about the Bible. Mention was made about the disciples that were there. When there is the proper attunement between the outer form and the Father within, that which is of the Father may be made manifest. When I say “I”, I am not talking about this outer form which came into manifestation forty years ago. I am talking about that which I Am within the form. “The Father Who dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.”
“The words I speak unto you I speak not of myself.” The reason my Ministry has meaning for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see is because that is just as true of me as it was of Jesus, and only from the standpoint of that Inner Reality, can there be appreciation of what I mean, or what I feel, or what it is I am seeking to convey—that it is not just the words of a human being. Unless there is a recognition of that, as far as that Inner Reality is concerned, no one can realize that I stood there at the cross when He was crucified. I am not talking about a record from the Bible. I am talking about something that I saw, something that I shared and experienced, I am talking about days and months and years of living with Him while He was on earth, and there should begin to be some comprehension of the fact that all that I have done in Ministry is primarily because I love Him—because I want all praise and honor and glory to go to Him. He, the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, went through that mockery of the trial, and went to the cross under the world’s rejection, and His disciples followed afar off, so that when He was on the cross there was only one disciple there. There was only one disciple standing by Him when He was on the cross—and I was there; and concerning that, after His Resurrection, the third and last time He was with the disciples, He made that statement, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.”
The only one of the disciples that could bring this, of which the Bible is a record, back into a vivid expression of Reality, was the only one who stood by Him when He was on the cross. When I say these things I am not saying them because it is anything special to me that they be recognized, because it is not. It makes no difference to my Reality, one way or the other. It only means that unless that is recognized, and unless the spirit of that which I am seeking to convey is appreciated from that standpoint, the true reality of the Master cannot be comprehended, the true significance of His life cannot be realized, because it is not just someone talking about it theoretically, someone taking the Bible and reading it and deciding that it means this, that or the other thing. It is something that IS. As you have recognized that there is not anyone else on earth who has opened the Bible to you as I have, there must be that recognition that it is only because there is, from the Inner standpoint, a recognition of my sharing that with Him, before there can be a comprehension of what He means to us today, so that what He did will not be in vain.
This portrayal in these four chapters I have been talking about [John 14, 15, 16 and 17] of what was supposed to be the manifestation of His Body on earth, the means by which He could continue to function on earth in outer form, the means by which the necessary works could be accomplished, cannot be understood just from an intellectual, outer standpoint, or someone’s thinking or reading. There have been brilliant men down through centuries who have had these same passages to read and study. They have gotten certain things out of them, but though they read them and studied them and preached about them, they did not make manifest that fundamental Reality which the Master Himself was seeking to convey to mankind. He came into the world and did these things, and lived among us because He loved humanity, because He loved each man, woman and child upon the face of the earth. He manifested His Love for us in many ways, and when, in the recognition of that Love for us, we learn to really love Him, then we can begin to be a part of His Body on earth, and being a part of His Body on earth in actuality, we can begin to let His Love work through us into the world.
Human beings approaching it from an intellectual standpoint, cannot comprehend that depth of love, let alone let it work through themselves into the world, and unless that love becomes such a living, vital, constant and utterly complete, thing, so that it is that which fills our expression and holds us in oneness with Him, our words will continue to be just words and will accomplish no more than what a lot of other good people have accomplished.
I recognize that my saying some of these things does not prove that they are true, and yet if my Ministry and my expression of the Word, and my portrayal of Him, do not prove it, I do not know what could. I could not help you to know Him unless I knew Him. It is because I know Him as He was, and as He is, that I can help you to come to know Him. I have outlined these things because there cannot be a true realization of the fact that I know Him unless there begins to be an understanding of these truths, and the more vividly the individual knows that I know Him, the easier will it be for me to introduce the individual to the LORD of Lords, so that each one can know Him, and so that these things can be such vital, living realities in relationship to us right now, no longer separated by two thousand years—something that is just as real and just as vital for us as it possibly could have been for those disciples; and in fact it must be a lot more vital and real than it was for any of those disciples, save one. And unless that vividness can be conveyed to the One Christ Body, so that it is just as real as it was to John, then there is no means whereby this outworking can take place now.
We have got to know Him and love Him. Time, in that sense, has utterly no meaning—because if the Master had ascended yesterday it could have no more meaning than it does. Until we get away from this tendency of thinking of ourselves as being separated from Him by 1900 years, it cannot be done. It must be just as if He had walked every step of the way here with us, or as if we had with Him then, and then the possibilities of fulfilment for us are really greater than they were for the disciples after He returned to the Father. That is why, while I appreciate your recognition of my Ministry, it really makes me feel very uncomfortable when you express so lovingly—and I am not criticizing you for it—unless the praise and honor and glory go to Him. Yes, I know, it goes to Him through me, but I have said these things because I have tried to convey to you how I feel about it so that you emphasize in those recognitions the love and response to Him. I am not finding fault—please understand—but I am just trying to convey how I feel about it.
Now let me add this. Let us remember that mankind is still crucifying Him on the cross of human self-activity in the body and mind, just as surely as they were back then. When we begin to see these things as they really are and we begin to become a part of His Body in that true sense, then we find that as we look into the world of unreality we are all standing at the foot of the cross. We begin to realize that this world is still crucifying Him; and that until we, in oneness, come to stand at the foot of the cross and begin to carry it on from there, as He intended, it is as nothing, because all of the sermons and preachings and everything else that could be accomplished by an intellectual consideration of the Bible, even though the individuals loved God sincerely—all these things—until they transcend time and space and distance, and it is recognized here, we cannot fulfil that in which the disciples failed then.
What I am seeking to bring into manifestation as rapidly as possible is to go back to the point before the failures, right back to the foot of the cross, and go from there without regard to any of the rest of it, and unless we can do that, as branches of the One Vine, we are not going to succeed. These are partial truths man has used, and you can work from now till doomsday and get nowhere. We have got to stop trying to build on the cycles that have gone and let the thing come into manifestation the way it should have come into manifestation then, and set new precedents, and once we get that going He will be able to do the works and get it done—but that is the only way.
© emissaries of divine light
John James Peter
Threefold Pattern Of Focalization
Uranda May 20, 1954 p.m. Class
This is our class meditation for Thursday, May 20th, 1954 here in the chapel on Sunrise Ranch. Last evening we were giving some thought to the particular design by which control manifests into the range of the physical organism and material substance, from the standpoint of the spirit. Now I think we might wisely amplify that a little from yesterday's class consideration. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2025/12/three-and-ninethe-significance-of.html] We remember the pattern that was portrayed in the Master's ministry on the basis of what is popularly conceived to be Peter, James and John. We would like to take note this morning of the basic fact that if it is understood, this particular arrangement is all right. If we recognize that Peter, James and John provide the proper pattern of recognition from the standpoint of the body, then all is well. But if in that pattern of perception Peter is conceived to be the point of focalization, and the mind does not perceive that which is above and beyond, we have confusion. And that is the state of the world consciousness with which you must deal. It is because of this confusion that we do not have the adequate manifestation of spiritual power on earth. Our ministry, our service, attunements, can be of consequence only to the degree that there is the actuality of spiritual power reaching through us into the world. Without that it turns into so many words and so many ideas which have no more meaning than a host of other words and ideas to be found in the world.
We recognize that John relates to spirit, James relates to mind,
and Peter relates to the emotional realm — the feeling realm.
We recognize that spirit issuing from the Supreme Point of focalization in the invisible realm
must have a focalization in the outer realm.
If there isn't an overall focalization the various members cannot of and by themselves come to focus. If the various members try to establish a focus of and by themselves they fail. We could take any member of your body as such and assume that that member of and by itself, without regard to the head, could establish a completely satisfactory relationship to the realm of spirit, and we would find that it was not so. If the factors that are in the head, from the standpoint of the endocrine system, the nervous system, the brain and all the rest of it, are not providing the point of focalization for the body as a whole, the member of the body cannot of and by itself establish a pattern of focalization directly with spirit. But the pattern of focalization is with respect to every member, and we are not to assume, merely because the head of the body provides the essential primary focalization, that the rest of the body is denied the reality of spirit—for it is not. And yet that particular false concept is one with which you will never be working and contending in every sphere inof service which has any relationship to spiritual things, because the human being will constantly assume that a recognition of the primary focalization at the point of the head suggests that the members of the body are denied their own individual patterns of focalization and direct relationship in and with spirit, which is not the case at all.
If we recognize this pattern and do not put it “Peter, James and John” as if the true order did not exist, we are all right. But the minute we assume that it is “Peter, James and John” on this basis, we are wrong. From the standpoint of Deity the approach is John, James and Peter. From the standpoint of the mass of humanity, which we call the body of mankind—and from the standpoint of the individual, for every person has individually the vibrational focalization factors of John, James and Peter, every single person on the face of the earth; but if that focalization is to have any meaning individually it must be established with respect to the whole body—in the mass consciousness we have it Peter, James and John, instead of John, James and Peter. If we realize the falsity of this concept and recognize that from the standpoint of Deity it is John, James and Peter, and we clearly establish that pattern in consciousness symbolizing these factors of being, we will have a basis of understanding, a basis of viewing, a basis of analyzing, which will stand us in good stead in every circumstance in life. If we break that pattern and try to establish it on some other basis we will fail, regardless who it is or how much effort is put forth.
We recognize that there are certain religions where the idea is: “You are not supposed to understand why. That is what you are taught; that is what you must believe. It is not a matter of the mind having any part to play; merely belief—feeling. It is not a matter of a recognition of the spirit in direct relationship with the individual; it is a matter of feeling acceptance regardless of the working of the mind.” And the mind is forced, from babyhood, to conform with that which is impressed upon consciousness through the feeling realm by reason of fear. “If you do not do thus and so you will go to hell or purgatory or somewhere. You will suffer. The devil will get you.” So, not so much on a basis of love for God as a basis of fear of God, the emotional nature is used as the primary point of focalization—concepts and ideas of every sort are implanted, not only in the field of religion but in the field of discipline for small children. “The bogeyman will get you. The policeman will get you. Somebody will come and get you.” All those ideas are utterly atrocious, in relationship to discipline for the childish mind and heart. So we use the feeling nature—we do not say fear has no place—but we recognize that mind is superior. However we also recognize that mind has within it that which is given particular focalization below it.
There is an absolute principle which must be realized if we are going to understand: that which is carried out in a pattern of differentiation in the expanded expression must be in essence contained in the point of focalization. Now if you will really remember that, it will save you from many a pitfall. What does it mean here, in practical application? That which is at the point of focalization, which we speak of as John, contains both James and Peter. That which is carried out to the point of differentiation from John to James carries the vibrational factors of Peter. The supreme point of focalization must contain the essence of all that is focalized and made manifest in the differentiation pattern in the expanded expression. So you look at the nervous system and you have simply the differentiated expanded expression of the brain which reaches to all of the parts. Your nervous system is simply the differentiated aspects of the brain in expanded expression connected with the parts or members of the body. Now always, that is true. This, then, follows: If we are going to think of James as relating to the mental plane, and he certainly does, we are not going to assume that the mental plane is differentiated from, separate from, unrelated to, the emotional realm.
The feeling nature is contained in the level of the true intellect.
And there is one of the things that has not been generally recognized, let alone understood, because the attempt has been made to establish the intellect on a mental basis without regard to the emotional factor which is inherent in the mind itself, and to do so establishes the mind as something which it is not. It is only a part of a thing functioning on a basis which tries to make it the whole thing. Now this relates to you as a person. The John aspect of your own being is the first out-manifestation, in the realm of yourself as a being, of that which is of the invisible focalization of Deity which we speak of as your Father, or your God Being, your centering in Deity. Whatever name you wish to use is beside the point as long as we do not get confused patterns.
The John aspect of your being is the first beginning point of manifestation, the focalization of all else that is to manifest as spirit or by reason of spirit. As soon as that begins to be a fact in manifestation with you, and John is there, the John aspect begins to differentiate and we have the James aspect of your being beginning to appear. But the James aspect does not function on a basis segregated from the emotional aspect in its own level—the Peter aspect is there. But with continued expressions of differentiation we come to that which is primarily, dominantly, Peter. That relates, to a very high degree, to the subconscious range, the subconscious mind. Actually, while there might have to be some adjustments in your consciousness on the point—so do not establish it with too fixed a sphere of limitation—the Peter aspect of your being is the unconscious or subconscious realm of the feeling nature, which in turn correlates with mind. There is the aspect of mind which extends into Peter—and remember that the subconscious mind is primarily the emotional nature.
If out of Peter we receive an impulse which does not correlate with James, which is not controlled or directed by James, and it is allowed expression, action, it also disregards John and makes Peter the supreme point of focalization for your existence. And then you are subject to every wind that blows. There is no stability. There is uncertainty. There is fear. There is every sort of ill thing, until we begin to realize that we do not deny Peter, as Peter denied the LORD, but we refuse to accept Peter as the supreme point of focalization in our being. And how is most of the control extended into the body? In the range of the automatic or subconscious. Every automatic function in your body relates to the subconscious, doesn't it? Certainly. How many of you can, by thinking, just willing that it be so, change the pulse beat of your heart? Now if you select certain things to think about, about which you feel deeply, you may by reason of feeling begin to have an effect in the body through the subconscious, but it will not be by direct will or conscious intent. It will be indirect. It still goes through Peter. So with the exception of the external patterns of action—walking, talking, movement of the hands, etc.—we do not have very much control on the intellectual level of consciousness in relationship to the functions in the body.
Now the pattern of habits which we establish and maintain in the conscious range has its influence in the subconscious range. But the important thing is to realize that you are very fortunate that God so constructed you that your mind as such does not have direct influence and control in your body, because if you had the interference of your intellect you would not be able to live. I will venture there isn't a person here in this room that could live twenty-four hours if the coordination of his internal processes, even in their primary aspects, depended upon conscious control in the mind. Do you think you would live twenty-four hours? I don't think you would live an hour, do you? No, I don't. How brilliant you are! I wouldn't want it either. I am pointing out, however, some basic factors which are vitally essential if we are going to learn how to live and how to serve others, because Peter, the emotional nature, must not be allowed to take supreme control in the body, even though Peter is the direct means by which control is released in the body, influence made manifest. The control into the body is primarily through Peter, into the realm of form. And that is not limited to you as a person. That applies to the whole mass of mankind. Now if this control level be used wrongly we call it black magic. If it is used correctly we call it white magic. The point is that the right use at this level is of the Divine Design, the magic of living, of beauty, of love and of life. The wrong use at this level results in the distortion patterns of the world, which are in fact elements of black magic.
Now James has the ability, by reason of the essences which are differentiated into manifestation as Peter—the elements in James differentiated as Peter are present in James, and by reason of the factors of intellectual and feeling perception we have the means at our command by which we may become acquainted with and learn to understand John. That is our purpose here in this Class. And until the human being establishes a pattern of right relationship with John, the John aspect of his own being, he cannot comprehend or become aware of, or know in any way, shape or form, his own Lord, his own God Being, or en masse, the LORD of Lords.
We can have all kinds of ideas about, concepts of every sort—and the world is full of them—but if you cut the nerves between the head and the body, the fact that the nerves are in the body will not permit the normal function. And it is just as true in relationship to mankind as a whole as it is true in relationship to you as a person. In the John aspect of your own being, what do we have—the negative focalization of the positive aspect in the invisible realm, in the range of focalization—simply a means by which the inner positive, or invisible focalization, is transferred to the realm of outer form—a connecting link, if you please—the invisible part of the chain and the visible part. If there is a break at the level where invisible things are supposed to begin to be visible, what is going to happen? The visible chain will be weak and of no value. It will not hold you up. So the John aspect of your own being is the connecting link.
Human beings try to understand the John aspect, in one way or another, to whatever degree it is comprehended, without correct function in relationship to Peter and James. And it will not work, try as you will. You are going to let Peter be the control point in your being and then learn to understand John? It will not work, because if Peter is the control point, you are being controlled by external things, by circumstances, what people say and do and what you think they feel, what you think their attitudes to be—when you do not know. You are controlled by all these things, and then you are a slave, pure and simple. It is from that slavery that human beings are to be liberated, and the moment any human being is liberated from that slavery, he or she begins to be a son or daughter of God. But that slavery is there whether we like to admit it or not. No matter what we do about it, without regard to James and John there is no liberation—and faith in Peter, hoping to achieve that liberation, will not achieve anything, no matter how you struggle or what method you use. You can go to the yoga philosophies of the Orient or of India, or pursue any idea of developing willpower and mental abilities in the Occident , and it will not work. You can get so far and you run into a blank wall. Human beings everywhere, by the millions, are up against that blank wall.
The only excuse we have for being a separate or distinct organization
is to provide something which is not provided by other organizations —
the means by which the individual as a person, and the mass body of mankind as a whole,
may begin to have an awareness of the John aspect of being,
so that there may be true comprehension of what we might call the Jesus aspect of being,
the Supreme Point of Focalization for the whole, the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings.
The focalization of Deity to us was made manifest in the form, the body, the man, who was known as Jesus. But that Jesus aspect of being, now invisible, can have no real or true meaning except by the means which He Himself outlined. And it always works absolutely, whether anyone likes it or not. Millions have destroyed themselves trying to make some other method work, and it will not. There is just one way. And the more quickly we come to that absolute conclusion and realization the better for us, the less time and energy will be wasted, the sooner we will be out of the abyss of nothingness into the realms of joy and peace.
Now, then, if we are going to comprehend James we must start on the right basis. The popular idea is to judge all things mental on the basis of the way you feel about it. You are going to let Peter pass on everything that James says. “I do not like that idea, so I will reject it. I like this idea, so I accept it, the way I feel about it. I am letting Peter determine what is true or not true with respect to what James says.” And it is a snare and a delusion. If the way you feel about it is going to determine what you believe, you will never be a true server. What happens? If we have a certain feeling—shall we call it prejudice?—a certain feeling of aversion toward some idea, or something we think is an idea, and we refuse to examine it because we have this feeling, we are going to remain in ignorance. But if, regardless of how we feel about it, we will examine what James presents with an open mind, what do we find? That when we see the truth the old prejudice, or adverse feeling, falls away. We do not feel the same way about it anymore, because we begin to feel on the basis of truth, not on the basis of all the things that have been pounded into us since our babyhood. And there is the difference between slavery and liberation into manhood and womanhood. If a person continues to be subject to his aversions, to his prejudices, to what he likes and does not like, he will be a slave until his dying day, a slave of things not controlled.
You must learn to recognize that what you feel about something is absolutely beside the point, that it should not be allowed to have any weight at all. If you say, “I like this idea so much I cannot give it up. I have too strong a feeling about it,” you are deluding yourself. If you say, “I have too strong a feeling against that idea to accept it,” you are deluding yourself. The way you feel will follow your intellectual acceptance of truth once you see it and accept it. And there is no other way which leads to mastery, to liberation, try as you will. What you feel about it is beside the point, and you need to reach the point of absolute conviction in yourself, where you will say, and mean, “What I feel about this or that is beside the point. It is not going to control me. My likes and dislikes are no longer going to be in control. I am going to examine everything from the standpoint of the mind, without adverse influence from Peter. I am going to examine. I am going to analyze. I am going to learn to think, and I am going to learn to let my mind, conscious and subconscious, function under the control of the spirit of God.”
This dual aspect of mind is contained in James, as we noted, and it is not by pure intellect that you learn to see and understand John. There is a feeling perception there. But this feeling perception that works from James to John cannot work as long as Peter is in control. You can say, “Well I am supposed to use my feeling perception.” Of course you are. But as long as you are a slave, reacting this way and that to every circumstance that arises, you are unstable and the Lord is not in control. When you begin to use this feeling perception that arises out of James in relationship to John, his brother—isn't that right, in relationship to John, his brother—it will not be because Peter is saying, “I reject that because I do not like it. I accept this because I like it.” But there is feeling perception there, and if you try to do it on a coldly intellectual basis, logic and reason alone, do you think you will arrive? No, you must use both of these aspects of perception as they are contained in James, and when you do you will find that what you perceive by feeling never violates logic and reason.
You cannot by logic and reason reach the point of comprehending John. It is utterly impossible. Though millions have tried it, not one has ever succeeded. It is a waste of time. But when you learn to use the true perceptive qualities of James, beginning to understand John, you will find that that which is perceived through the feeling aspect never violates logic or reason, or what we might call the intellectual aspect of your being. And if you perceive something that appears to violate, what are you going to do? Jump to the conclusion, “Well now, I don't like this. I am going to put it all aside”? No, if you are afraid of it you cannot approach close enough to it to examine it. There must be control. If you are afraid to examine any point which appears, it means that you have no faith in your own stability. Is that not true? And you need to develop faith in your own stability, learn to examine it. Then what you thought you saw turns out to be something a little different. You thought it was this way and it wasn't. It was a different form, different factors. And as soon as you see it as it really is, you have no rejection of it—an acceptance. You no longer feel against it and you have reached a point where you know the truth and the truth has set you free from that which you feared. And it has not violated logic or reason.
The point I wish to reemphasize here is that until you reach a point of right attitude toward Peter, try as you may, you cannot begin to use the true perceptive faculties of James, and the feeling nature is going to be mixed-up and you will not reach a point where you are controlled by the spirit of God.
Why have I, over this period of years here, been so patient with all the people? Because I knew that each and every one of you, perhaps inadvertently but nevertheless certainly, were under the control and domination of Peter, regardless of what you thought in your mind, regardless of what you thought you believed, or anything else. Peter is too much in control to permit you to know the truth. The Master did not say, “And ye shall know how you feel, and your feelings will make you free.” He did say, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” And how are you going to know the truth? By the perceptive faculties of James in the intellectual level. For only so can you begin to comprehend John and begin to realize that which John represents, or makes possible in manifestation in the realm of form.
This means that not by rule and regulation, not by arbitrary attitude on my part, but by reason of your own opportunity to observe the truth, you have reached a point where there must be less subjection to Peter on your part. You may think, “Well I am going to lose something good.” Oh no you won't. No, you will find things that are lovely and beautiful and real, the blessings which God would bestow upon you. Nothing worthwhile will be taken away. Only the thorns that irritate, only the ill conditions that make one suffer, only that which spoils, will be taken away.
But there is still too much subjection to Peter in your daily function to permit you to make the kind of progress you can make if you will remember these things and if you will be sensible and remember that here there is understanding one of another. But refuse to be blinded by Peter, refuse to accept the way you feel about anything as conclusive, what you like or do not like. Do not let it be conclusive. Move to the realm of truth and function on the basis of James, and you will find that John, his brother, is near at hand, and all will be well. God bless you.
© emissaries of divine light
